


The Handmaiden's Canticle

by owlmoose



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Gen, Holiday Fic Exchange, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 22:30:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of the story of Andraste, in the form of the Chant of Light. Based on "Spirits" by HereBeDragons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Handmaiden's Canticle

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Spirits - The Song of Andraste](https://archiveofourown.org/works/558745) by [HereBeDragons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereBeDragons/pseuds/HereBeDragons). 



> A gift for HereBeDragons in the 2012 Tumblr Dragon Age Holiday Cheer exchange.

  


Plain text version:

Let us now sing of the Lady Andraste:  
Born from the sea, waves bearing her home  
She calls thunder and lightning, scorching the heavens  
Gentle rains coaxing sweet blooms from the earth

In each fall of rain, hear the song of Andraste.  
Let us now sing of the breath of Andraste:  
A song speaks of freedom, lends strength to sore feet  
The voice of the goddess turns darkness to light  
A gale and a trembling, the lords fall to their knees

In the touch of each breeze, know the words of Andraste. 

Let us now sing of the lands of Andraste:  
Stolen from one home, then fled from her prison  
Fields feed her armies, stones show them the way  
While hillsides collapse on the enemy's path 

In every sword forged, feel the will of Andraste.

Let us now sing of the fires of Andraste:  
A hearth flame banked safe as the love of a mother  
Righteous blazes consuming the yokes of the damned  
A funeral pyre, ashes live on forever

In the heart of each flame, see the eyes of Andraste.

No Maker, no King, no other man’s power  
Naught but one woman, her vision to bear  
Fire and water, earth and air at her call  
She raises her sword of truth, and they come:  
Wind and waves sweep the land with fresh tide of freedom  
The chains washed away, flowers grow in their wake  
The unworthy left behind to burn  
And lament the day they chose the lie

In the mercy of song, learn the truth of Andraste.

> Discovered among the papers of the Archon Hessarian in 41 Black, scholars now believe the original work was written by a slave woman who attended upon Andraste in the time of her captivity, before she was martyred. Declared heretical by the Divine for the suggestion that Andraste was a mage, the mention of an unknown goddess, and the repudiation of the Maker, the canticle was destroyed and thought lost until variations of it surfaced in 36 Dragon, passed among the mages who rebelled against the Chantry. Although not to be considered a canonical text, historians hold it to be of interest as a possible alternate interpretation of certain events in Andraste’s life.

  
_From “Songs and Tales of the Rebellion” by Sister Madeline, Chantry Scholar_


End file.
